Martial Arts Styles - World Black Belt

Ryongkido

Ryongkido, meaning Way of Dragon Energy, is a Korean martial art system housed within Sado Mu Sool, or Family Martial Way. Founded in Korea around the mid 900 A.D. by Park Kee Youl, the system emphasized more of a "softer" principle of evasion and attack.

Throughout the years of invasion, occupation, and war with other countries, Ryongkido continued to thrive but became influenced by other systems and philosophies. Training with the principle of combat efficiency in mind, the Park Family borrowed, absorbed, or outright stole techniques and philosophies from other systems. The end result is a system that uses an angled vertical fist, emphasizes linear attacks, promotes sweeps and throws, and teaches grappling. There are no "off limit" techniques. Everything from eye gouging, small joint manipulation, groin strikes, and foot stomps are employed.

Aggressiveness is promoted and techniques are based more on incapacitating an opponent than detaining him. The teaching structure of Ryongkido differs from other systems in two aspects. The first is that it is more suitable for one-on-one training (master/student) or two on one training (master/two students) than large classes. The second is that each lesson is tailored to the student's abilities and weaknesses.

Individualizing training is thought to be more efficient than generalizing lesson plans amongst ten or twenty students. The underlying principle of Ryongkido is being adaptable to any combat situation faced. Realistic training within various environments besides the dojang such as public restrooms, streets, parks, empty lots, and garages promotes a better understanding of the abilities and limitations of the student and his surroundings. No matter how combat changes, it is evident that Ryongkido and it's followers will evolve to meet the challenge.

Sambo is a style of wrestling that originated in Russia in the 1930s that contains techniques from judo/jujitsu and more than 20 styles of folk wrestling popular throughout the various republics of the Soviet Union at the time.

The term Sambo is an acronym for the Russian phrase self-defense without weapons. Initially created as a means of unarmed crowd control, Sambo was also used by domestic police and soldiers for training in hand-to-hand combat.

The creation of a sport from Sambo combined traditional wresting techniques from elements of several martial arts including Greco-Roman wrestling, Armenian jacket-throwing; Turkish kuresh wresting, kokh, the national wrestling of Armenia, Sambo and Japanese judo.

Sambo wrestlers compete in outfits that is blends traditional wrestling tights, and a judo uniform; thin-soled shoes, trunks or a wrestling singlet, and a tight fitting jacket, known as kurtka. This jacket has longer sleeves than a judo gi is tighter and shorter plus the kurtka has epaulets or shoulder cuffs sewn into it. The belt is worn through loops that keep it in place, since the belt can be grabbed in sambo.

Sambo differs from judo in the following ways: sambo wrestlers compete in shoes, with trunks or singlets instead of barefoot and in pants, no choking, submission holds or joint locks are permitted on the leg, wrestling takedowns and leg attacks are also permitted.

Bouts are two periods of 3 minutes Each, with a 60-second rest between bouts. A match ends immediately following a total victory, which happens when a perfect throw is executed, putting the opponent on his back and the thrower remains standing. A win may also be awarded from points acquired by pinning an opponent.

San Soo (San Shou) meaning "Free Fighting" is arguably one of the oldest of Chinese fighting systems still being practiced today. Dating back some 4,000 years, it is said that the Kuan Yin monks in the Guang Dong Province of Southern China did not invent the San Soo system, but innovated much of it's teachings, recorded it's evolution, and organized San Soo into four major categories of fighting; Ti - Kicking, Da - striking, Shuai - wrestling, and Na - Qin na. Even with fighting categories and physical techniques, San Soo is generally treated as a concept and not a definable art.

San Soo's method is offensive, opting to neutralize the opponent the instant that the opponent initiates aggressive behavior, rather than using defensive blocking to stop an attack. This is evident in the training of simultaneous evasion and striking, reading body language, attacking initial aggression, and attacking the attack.

San Soo's style of fighting is based upon scientific principles of physics and leverage dealing with predictable reactions and responses to certain stimuli. It is believed by the San Soo disciple that when a human body is struck in a specific area, it reacts is a predictable manner. That reaction would then expose other, more vulnerable targets. A large part of San Soo is the Shuai set.

Called Shuai Jiao, it's characteristics are extremely fast "downing" and throwing techniques used to quickly disable to the opponent. The major difference between Shuai Jiao and other wresting styles is that it emphasizes more speed in the throw. Shuai Jiao also incorporates kicks, punches and other strikes, and the shuai jiao disciples are taught to avoid falling to the ground and grappling for the simple fact that there may be multiple opponents present. Offensive, speed emphasized, aggressive, and efficient, San Soo has established it's claim as one of the oldest and efficient methods of fighting.